Gary Neville said his blood was boiling before that crazy Manchester United defeat at Everton towards the end of last season. After it, he was "furious" and fumed about the "Japanese knotweed at that football club... and it needs dealing with properly."

You'd be forgiven for thinking Neville had reset his fury clock over the summer, judging by his more recent comments on some similar (if not quite as bad) United results. Maybe that self-imposed close-season break from Twitter had the desired effect for the United great.

Either way, a calmer Neville has resurfaced on our screens this season.

Speaking on his own podcast for Sky Sports, the former United defender refuses to be downcast about the club's future. He refutes suggestions from (some) fans that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could be the wrong man for the job. He believes the club are heading in the right direction, despite those dropped points against Southampton, Crystal Palace and Wolves.

“I think Manchester United are on the right track," he said this week. "The first thing Man United have to do is have a group of people in the dressing room who want to be there.

“Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is trying to play the long game. He needs support from up-above. He needs really strong leadership over two to three seasons to be able to have the four or five transfer windows he needs.”

Neville's punditry is such that he's rarely wrong, especially where United are concerned, given his affection for the club.

And to suggest otherwise — to argue that Solskjaer is the problem, that United are dead in the water after two draws and one defeat — is madness. He's certainly right on the players who "want to be there". On only Paul Pogba could you arguably say otherwise.

As Neville added, when assessing a mixed performance and a poor result at Southampton: “I think, when you have a team that’s young like that Manchester United team is — I think it has a lot of players who are developing, trying to prove themselves — you are going to get a lot of results like this where they do OK in the game, but they don’t have that clinical element to see it off.”

Bang on again.

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Save for Daniel James, whose energy, endeavour and enthusiasm is winning points for United already, United haven't shown any ruthlessness in front of goal this season. Nor really under Solskjaer per se if you exclude Marcus Rashford's scoring streak in January and February, which was founded on those same factors as James' current form. The Reds are yet to discover any real control and composure.

Yet Solskjaer has only had since the summer to change the feel of this United squad. To establish new leaders.

Disagree with that all you like, but its reasoning comes from the same place as Neville's. Both men are looking at the process. Both are avoiding the knee-jerk reactions that dominate the post-match landscape — especially on social media — after a poor United result.

Neville, a fierce critic of United in the post Sir Alex Ferguson era, knows it will take time to fully stamp out the "knotweed". The new beginning put in place by Solskjaer and Mike Phelan will not blossom straight away.

But United supporters have to hope that he's right and the club are indeed back on the right track. It's difficult to have faith following some lacklustre recent displays, but the road back to the summit was always going to be long.